Jump to content
Cultivated Reef

What eats brittle mini stars?


bayareadmax

Recommended Posts

i have a ridiculous amount of mini brittles in my 10g tank. When ever i feed all you see are hundreds of arms coming out from everywhere, this does not only occur when the lights are off either. I dont really like how it looks and they also seem to be bothering some of my corals. I understand that they are beneficial but i dont think i need this many to be beneficial. Is there any creature i could add that would take the population down?

Link to comment

You should feel blessed imo. But, I have heard of people having too many amphipods before so...

 

 

Rainford's goby (actually not a goby but that's its name, these things are very active eaters and I have seen them kept in 10 gals before)

Maybe a Harlequin shrimp (their diet is strictly starfish so...) (but I'm actually not sure if they'll eat the minis)

Bumble bee shrimp (you would need quite a few but they should keep population in check, mine do)

 

 

 

If you had a larger tank i'd recommend a six line wrasse or mandarin, but only if you had larger tank.

 

There is a good chance that the majority will die off due to over population in a month or two. If your tank itself is not adversely affected, I see no reason to worry about them.

Link to comment
BustytheSnowMaam

If they're small enough, most fish will eat them if you drop them from above like fish food.

 

Also, overpopulations of critters (like bristle worms or mini-stars) will self-regulate eventually.

Link to comment
+1. Selling is a great option. I miss my micro brittle stars...

I wish I had some. :( Have billions of amphipods, copepods, and small bristleworms, but have not seen a single mini-star in my nano.

Link to comment
You should feel blessed imo. But, I have heard of people having too many amphipods before so...

 

 

Rainford's goby (actually not a goby but that's its name, these things are very active eaters and I have seen them kept in 10 gals before)

Maybe a Harlequin shrimp (their diet is strictly starfish so...) (but I'm actually not sure if they'll eat the minis)

Bumble bee shrimp (you would need quite a few but they should keep population in check, mine do)

 

 

 

If you had a larger tank i'd recommend a six line wrasse or mandarin, but only if you had larger tank.

 

There is a good chance that the majority will die off due to over population in a month or two. If your tank itself is not adversely affected, I see no reason to worry about them.

 

Harlequin shrimp do not touch brittle or mini brittle stars. Rainford's goby, Six-line wrasses and Mandarins will not eat mini brittles either, they will eat coepods though, which i think the OP was thinking about.

 

I'd say pluck em out and sell them.

Link to comment

Are you sure about the Harlequin shrimp not eating them? I have seen them used for this purpose out here... I am asking because I was considering one but didn't want the hassle of feeding a chocolate chip star every month and fouling up the tank...

Link to comment
Are you sure about the Harlequin shrimp not eating them? I have seen them used for this purpose out here... I am asking because I was considering one but didn't want the hassle of feeding a chocolate chip star every month and fouling up the tank...

 

 

They eat starfish but not brittle star fish. not ever if the shrimp is starve they dont like them at all.

Link to comment
Harlequin shrimp do not touch brittle or mini brittle stars. Rainford's goby, Six-line wrasses and Mandarins will not eat mini brittles either, they will eat coepods though, which i think the OP was thinking about.

 

 

Thanks for answering about the Harlequins. Like I said, I wasn't sure about those.

 

I will have to disagree when it comes to the Rainford's though. Mini brittles were the favorite grazing food for the two that I have had. They constantly searched the sand and rocks for these things, yes they ate other stuff also but these seemed to be the most eaten. I realize that it varies from fish to fish and that some might completely ignore them but mine have always eaten them.

 

:happy:

Link to comment
Are you sure about the Harlequin shrimp not eating them? I have seen them used for this purpose out here... I am asking because I was considering one but didn't want the hassle of feeding a chocolate chip star every month and fouling up the tank...

 

Mini brittles and brittle stars don't paralyze like normal stars do when the harlequin attacks it's foot so it gets away. So Harlequins don't even bother with them, they like their prey slow moving and sedate.

Link to comment
  • 9 years later...

I'll gladly take a bunch if you want to ship em.  I've tried to seed my tank with various sand and rock mini brittles a few times but never got a large enough start population to help. Also my damn tiger pistol would sift the sand and eat em, along with bristle worms. ;/

 

Link to comment

Harlequins eat tube feet, and brittle stars lack feet. They just writhe about. 

 

As to pricing, you could probably charge about whatever you'd like. Couple bucks a star might work okay for starter colonies. Those can be really hard to find on purpose! 

 

You may want to try a bottle trap or a pitfall trap. Stop feeding except for spot-feeding, and put tasty meaty foods in the trap. They should go looking for food at night, eventually, and fall for your traps.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...